Mazatlán

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Mazatlán

Official Name	Mazatlán
Country - State: - Municipality	Mexico Sinaloa Mazatlán
Population (2005)	352,471 (city); 403,888 (municipality) hab
Altitude	msl
Coordinates - Latitude: - Longitude:	23º 04' 50" N 105º 43' 23" W
Foundation - Foundation:
Mayor	Alejandro Higuera Osuna
Political party	PAN
Time zone:	UTC -7
Demonym	Mazatleco(a)
Postal code	82000-
Area code	669
Website: www.mazatlan.gob.mx

Mazatlán [masaˈtlan] is a city in the Mexican state of Sinaloa; the surrounding municipio (municipality) for which the city serves as the municipal seat is also called Mazatlán. It is located at 23°12′N 106°25′W on the Pacific coast, just across from the southernmost tip of the Baja California peninsula.

Mazatlán is a Nahuatl word meaning "place of the deer." The city was founded in the 1820s. By the mid-1800s a large group of immigrants had arrived from Germany. These new citizens developed Mazatlán into a thriving commercial seaport, importing equipment for the nearby gold and silver mines. It served as the capital of Sinaloa from 1859 to 1873. They also influenced the music, Banda, which is an alteration of Bavarian folk music.

Mazatlán, with a population of 352,471 (city) and 403,888 (municipality) as of the 2005 census, is the second-largest city in the state (after Culiacán) and Mexico's largest commercial port. It is also a popular tourist destination, its beaches lined with resort hotels. A car ferry plies its trade across the Gulf of California from Mazatlán to La Paz, Baja California Sur. The municipality has a land area of 3,068.48 km² (1,184.75 sq mi) and includes smaller outlying communities such as Villa Unión.

In 2005, Mazatlán hosted and won the "Serie del Caribe," which is an annual baseball tournament with teams from México, Puerto Rico, Venezuela, and the Dominican Republic.

Every year Carnival is celebrated during the week before Ash Wednesday. There are a lot of festivities, including the election of a Queen, parades, and balls. This is the third largest Mardi Gras in the world, behind the celebrations held in Rio de Janeiro and New Orleans.^{[citation needed]}

Mazatlán is served by Gral. Rafael Buelna International Airport

1 History
2 Twin Cities
3 References
4 External links

[edit] History

By the late 18th and early 19th centuries, Mazatlán was a collection of huts inhabited by Indians whose major occupation was fishing. According to Abel Aubert du Petit-Thouars, the French explorer, by 1829 a Spanish banker named Machado had arrived. He established commercial relations with vessels coming to Mazatlán from far off places such as Chile, Peru, the United States, Europe, and China. By 1836 the city had a population of between 4000 to 5000.

During the Mexican-American War, the U.S. Army took the city; in order to avoid the shelling of the city, the Mexican army had abandoned it. On the morning of November 13, 1864, a French man-of-war fired on the city twelve times but there were no casualties; Mazatlán then became part of the Mexican Empire under Maximilian. On November 13, 1866, the Mexican general Ramon Corona expelled the imperialists from Mazatlán. On June 18, 1868, William H. Bridge, captain of HMS Chanticleer, blockaded the port and threatened to shell the city, June 22, after Custom Authorities seized 23 gold ounces to the paymaster of this ship.

The lighthouse "El Faro"

During the Gold Rush, people from the United States East Coast would sail from New York Harbor or any other Atlantic port to Mexican ports in the Gulf of Mexico. From these ports, the would-be gold diggers rode horseback for weeks to Mazatlán. Here they had to take another ship, which would arrive in San Francisco after four to five weeks.

Mazatlán's lighthouse began to shine by mid-1879. The lamp had been handcrafted in Paris, and it contained a big oil lamp with mirrors to enhance the light. Since the light was static, in the distance it was often mistaken as a star. By 1905 this lamp was converted to a revolving lamp. Today, near the lighthouse shore, the famous "divers" perform daring jumps into the pacific of high rocks for a tip of a couple pesos. As an example of Mazatlán touristic expansion, the largest timeshare provider in Mexico, Mayan Resorts was founded in 1975 on Mazatlán with the inauguration of Paraíso Mazatlán (Mazatlán Paradise).

In local culture they have celebrities like Julio Preciado, "Banda" national superstar, in classical music Enrique Patron de Rueda and the Machado Orchestra, and Angela Peralta (1845 - 1883) considered one of the best opera singers in Mexico. Also Mazatlán is the hometown of Pedro Infante, the most popular actor and singer of the golden years of Mexico's film industry.